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In Media making up the mob: Journalists amid protesters in Ferguson, Mo. in the Washington Post, it's claimed there's as many media staff as protestors in Ferguson:

Early Wednesday, Lowery estimated that the size of the group protesting and the media covering it was about even — between 100 and 150 of each.

This claim is repeated in the summary text for a tweet linking to the article.

Is it true?

Andrew Grimm
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  • That could easily be true *for that specific time period*. Reports (from the [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/us/ferguson-missouri-protests.html?_r=0), for instance) say that a peaceful demonstration ended some time before midnight. In addition, the police made 47 arrests "late Tuesday". It stands to reason the remaining crowd "early Wednesday" was smaller than usual. – Is Begot Aug 20 '14 at 14:34
  • What is the basis for being skeptical of this claim? – user5341 Aug 20 '14 at 14:42
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    @DVK do you mean *doubtful*? Because we should apply skepticism to every claim. –  Aug 20 '14 at 15:30
  • It wouldn't be the first time. I've seen Dutch media reporting "massive public interest" in some royal event, where journalists outnumbered citizens 5-to-1. – gerrit Aug 20 '14 at 15:58
  • @gerrit - surely you won't begrudge our masters from the 4th estate the right to be called "public" when they see feet to pretend to the title? – user5341 Aug 20 '14 at 16:45
  • Related, and interesting: are the journalists *becoming* the news? http://ryanschuessler.com/2014/08/21/i-will-not-be-returning-to-ferguson/ – Benjol Aug 22 '14 at 08:32

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